India, the largest ever democratic country on the planet is an emerging global power in terms of its size, diversity with over a billion population. The country takes pride of its different cultures, languages, ethnicities and politics. But the bitter realty denies equal rights and opportunities to all because of simmering undercurrents of caste, ethnicity, patriarchy and feudalism. The so called economic prosperity confines to the upper middle class people and the poor people are remaining marginalized. The country now can no longer talk of any opportunity to weed out poverty who survive on less than Rs 200 per day. Abject penury won’t die down for nearly 300 million people in India so long as exclusion and discrimination are allowed to remain.
Equal Dignity
Phia Foundation keeps fighting for the poor and excluded people by promoting inclusive growth, social justice and dignity for all. Poverty does not confine to the country’s economic health only. The poverty which emerged from discrimination, precisely, affect a huge chunk of the population. Social norms, beliefs and attitudes around caste, ethnicity, class, religion and gender here matter in the poverty of huge magnitude where women and children have to bear the burnt with no fault of their own. A slew of measures to do away with the odd and redundant factors by both public and private sectors seem to have paying dividends. But all worries bubble up for the poor people as soon as they try to grab their rights. Herein emerges the grim picture of backlash, human rights violations not to speak of the increasing atrocities.
Major challenges ahead
Millions of people in the independent country are still far away from quality education, potable water and basic sanitation, affordable healthcare and housing. There is no dearth of laws, struggles, initiatives and what not. But the entire country has miles to go to achieve a huge success in these fields dominated by inhuman practice. The urban and semi urban areas have been bearing the brunt of a steep rise in the migration from the rural India, which is no less responsible for exploitation in all forms. Lack of social identity, security and entitlements for excluded migrant communities are an added challenge to address poverty.
Natural calamities unleash no less reign of death and devastation in the country claiming a huge toll at regular intervals. A huge part of the country in the coastline is prone to cyclones, heavy rains, floods and tsunami while draught, landslide and earthquake frequently hit many parts in the northern India. A number of initiatives including the Right to Information, Swachh Bharat, the Right to Education have failed to percolate any benefit for the people in real sense of the term. The real challenge still remains. Keeping the needs of the poor and disadvantaged lots in mind, Phia strongly advocates bridging the widening gap between policies and implementation on the ground. That’s why, it has struck deal with the government, private sector, civil society and community groups to help the people bail out of the existing problems.